Diverse Joy

• S3E03: Mind-Body Connection: The Body Keeps the Joy

  Will and Amber’s joys this holiday season relate to holiday traditions: Amber’s recalls how her mom would give her and her brother gift every day of the month leading up to Christmas as kids, and then segueing that into gifting board games as adults, and getting to spend time together playing them; and Will talks the current tradition of he and Eric Roman getting Lego Star Wars Advent Calendars from past guest (and friend) Sandy Eichel and their wife! For this episode’s main discussion, the hosts draw on Amber’s clinical expertise in discussing wellness and the mind–body connection. This can be especially relevant around the holidays because of the stress and pressures to create joyful holiday memories, or just how the holidays can lead to spending time with extended family that might be trying. They discuss how the amygdala and prefrontal cortex influence our moods and behavior, as well as methods to bring ourselves back to a state of calm after emotions strongly impact us: One such regulatory skill uses the acronym SHINE, including your Senses, Humming, Inner Joy, Notice Color, and Exhale. This episode is also the official introduction of the Wellness Skill segment, something we’ve occasionally had but never labeled. In story time, both the positive and negative stories expand on the mind–body connection, with Amber sharing how she recognized the ways in which an unpleasant colleague was causing negative reactions in her body, and Will sharing about recognizing when aroused states (including learning another acronym, HALTS - Hungry, Angry, Late/Lonely, Tired, or Surprised) can lead to more bias.  This month’s audience question asks how mind–body connection may bring in special concerns for members of stigmatized groups, with Will and Amber addressing that topic, and tying the response back to previous discussions of racial battle fatigue. This episode’s bias habit-breaking skill involves Norm Enforcement, where people act in ways to enforce norms, including norms that arise from stereotypes, because our brains “like” when people conform to norms and “dislike” when people violate them. Amber’s joyful recommendation this episode is Jingle Jangle, a lovely musical Afro-Futuristic Christmas movie with a Black-centered cast. She also shouted out additional Black-centered Christmas movies including This Christmas, Last Holiday, and The Preacher’s Wife. Happy holidays, everyone! Now, go find your joy. Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.

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• S3E02: The Brain’s Wicked Reward System and Overcoming Stereotypes for Good

  In excitement for the release of the movie Wicked: For Good later this month, Amber and Will are dressed as Elfie and Guy-linda from Wicked! Will’s joy this month is Heels and Wheels, a disability-inclusive dance group in Madison, Wisconsin. Amber’s joy is the power of Wicked The Musical and especially the movie starring Cynthia Erivo, which brings a new depth of feeling to the character of Elphaba as portrayed by a Black woman, and especially her experience of the Pet-to-Threat phenomenon. Amber also adored going to a sing-along screening of Wicked: Part 1 with her family! This episode’s discussion topic involves the science behind the brain’s reward system and how it is involved in stereotyping and bias. Stereotypes lead to probabilistically uncertain predictions, and when those predictions are upheld, it engages your brain’s reward system. This is sometimes called “intermittent reinforcement”, which is the most difficult learning pattern to overcome. We can all work on trying to recognize that we might have positive emotional reactions when stereotypes are upheld, and frustrated emotional reactions when stereotypes or predictions are disrupted–those are fundamental building blocks for understanding and undermining bias habits. Finding pleasure (e.g., joy!) in things that oppose stereotypes and bias can help work against these neural processes and improve diversity and inclusion. During story time, Will shares a story about someone who used a rude statement to try to prove stereotypes are true. Amber’s more positive story was about her summer camp’s commitment to diversity and their statement regarding gender inclusion that embraces transgender and nonbinary identities. Continuing from the Wicked discussion, this episode’s question revisits the Pet-to-Threat phenomenon we talked about in Season 2, Episode 13, and discuss what other factors sometimes drive diverse people out of career paths, especially academic careers.  For the bias habit-breaking skill, this time we’re talking Impression Justification, which involves having a “good gut feeling” when someone matches stereotypes or “bad gut feeling” when someone mismatches stereotypes. Those gut feelings then become lenses that color your judgments.  Amber’s joyful recommendation is everything related to Oz, including The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, Return to Oz, The Wiz, and all of Frank L. Baum’s books! Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.

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• S3E01: Joy as Resistance and Bias Reduction

  For this Halloween episode, Will is dressed as Dracula and Amber is the Bride of Frankenstein! This is the first episode of season 3, and Amber’s joy is all the great reactions the podcast has received, including “Diverse Joy” being officially ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts globally! Will’s joy is that his book, "Overcoming Bias Habits", is now available for preorder! (Details below.) This episode’s discussion topic is how joy can be used as a scientifically validated tool against bias. Some of this concept is reflected in historical and contemporary notions of “joy as resistance,” using joy in many forms—community, song, fellowship—to fight injustice and oppression. They also discuss the distinction between genuine joy and performative or toxic positivity. Many scientists say that the primary driving force behind bias is having more pleasant (i.e., joyful) memories with similar folks and fewer with those who are different from you. In that way, cultivating diverse joy, in terms of building more, and more joyful, memories with diverse people, directly helps combat and push back against bias in your mind and behavior. The discussion brings into focus two primary goals that Will and Amber want everyone to keep in mind: doing the work to 1) cultivate diverse joy, and 2) disrupt bias habits. Working on each goal can help you with the other, and together they will help us all build a better world, bit by bit.  Our answers to this episode’s question explains that we don’t talk about current events because every episode is meant to be an evergreen educational resource, and discussing current events would date the episodes in an unhelpful way. During story time, the more negative story this episode involves how one of Amber’s colleagues had traumatic negative experiences with Black folks, which fueled them to have stronger unintentional race bias towards her. This episode’s positive story comes from a listener who shared that they actively use the notion of bias being a habit whenever they notice a biased thought. Our bias habit-breaking skill continues that theme, encouraging us all to Approach Biases as Habits to be Broken. We further emphasize that all the habit-breaking skills are actionable (they involve you doing something), self-sustainable (you can maintain them over time), customizable (you can adapt them to different contexts), and generalizable (you use them to work on biases related to race, gender, LGBTQ+ statuses, age, disability, or any other group status you can think of).  Will’s joyful recommendation is the movie “Sinners.” It includes themes of “joy as resistance” with the Black community combating racism through a horror allegory. It is a fun, not-too-scary vampire romp to help you cultivate diverse joy and disrupt bias habits! Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder the day this episode releases! Preorder through our website BiasHabit.com, on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Preorder Overcoming Bias Habits From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.

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• S2E14: Alpha, Boomer, Millennial: Learn about Generational Biases

  Will and Amber are dressed up as Dorothy and Sophia from “The Golden Girls”, in honor of this month being the 40th anniversary of that groundbreaking television show. Amber shares her joy about a formal tea dining experience she had with friends (where they dressed “Bridgerton”-esque to make it extra special), and Will’s joy is his universally adored dog, Ezra, a silvery gray Westiepoo! Their discussion topic is generational biases, and Amber starts us off by quizzing Will and producer Eric Roman on Gen Alpha slang! They go on to discuss many ways inter-generational stereotypes and biases occur. One issue of note is the misperception that concepts or ideas are “new” when in fact they are merely new to you, or just more out in the open and have become mainstream (e.g., thinking trans* and nonbinary identities are “new”). This can happen both from older people against younger and vice versa. They also discuss age bias and questioning the competence of older (or younger) folks. Another important generational issue that can impede healthy discussion is neglecting to recognize both how far society has come and how far we still have to go. Amber and Will recommend both embracing the passion and fresh eyes of youth and recognizing the experience and groundwork of those who came before. They also draw attention to how people often dismiss the opinions and choices of both kids and seniors. During Story Time, Will shares a story about a time a professor made an assumption that his colleague was racist because he was older, and Amber shared stories about her “lifespan development” college course, including helping people visualize themselves older and bringing older ladies to speak to her class and the joy that always brought her students. This episode’s question is about imposter syndrome and how to cope with it. The bias habit-breaking skill covered this time is something the hosts help you work on every episode with their joyful recommendations, which is to Broaden Your Input via Media. If you can add stories from diverse perspectives to your media diet, it can help reduce bias! To help you apply that skill, consider checking out Will’s joyful media recommendation this episode, which is the evergreen, hilarious, smart, and wonderful television show, “The Golden Girls,” and its sequel series “The Golden Palace.” It was groundbreaking in many amazing ways, with many hot-button issues that are still relevant, or that have become relevant again, today! We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.

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• S2E13: Diverse People Bring Diverse Perspectives

  Will’s joy this month is the annual Woof’s Boat Cruise in the lakes around Madison, and Amber's is a lovely, heartwarming gift from her former students! The cohosts start off discussing the benefits that diversity brings to organizations. Teams with more diversity tend to have more creative, transformative solutions to problems, and some reports say that corporations with more diversity actually make more money. They also caution against thinking of diversity only in terms of utility, because removing barriers to full inclusion is just the right thing to do! Next, they talk about the unfortunate “Pet to Threat” phenomenon that can often push diverse people out of organizations. Coined by Dr. Kecia Thomas and her colleagues, Pet to Threat involves someone, often a person of color, first being trotted out as wonderful addition to an organization (like a “Pet”), but when they have new ideas or want to address problems in the organization, people start turning against them (they become a “Threat”). Another analogy for this is that organizations start off excited for someone to “shake things up” (seen as a positive), but when they start actually making changes, they’re “rocking the boat” (seen as a negative). During Story Time, Will and Amber share about their own Pet to Threat experiences and how that impacted them, and also how having the “Pet to Threat” label for their experiences has been therapeutic for them and others!  This episode’s question involves the difference between “inclusion” and “belonging”, with a conversation around how and why many organizations have recently begun adopting “belonging” as a major diversity goal.  This episode’s bias habit-breaking skill is to Track the Data. Tracking data is a great way to assess where problem areas might be and also how well you’re doing with solutions. Look at types of data you might track regarding your customers, clients, employees, or even just yourself! Will’s joyful media recommendation is the adorable, smart, and endearing television show, “Bluey!”, which is great for kids and adults! The cohosts shouted out and promised to link you to a lot of extras this episode, so check these out if you wish! America Ferrera’s amazing TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/america_ferrera_my_identity_is_a_superpower_not_an_obstacle  An article by Dr. Kecia Thomas about Pet to Threat: https://www.forbes.com/sites/keciathomas/2024/01/13/the-persistence-of-pet-to-threat/  The song “A Diagnosis” from Crazy Ex Girlfriend: https://youtu.be/uic_3vlI5BE?si=Fv58K0tbGe4Uo6Oj  Two great Instagram accounts Will and Amber recommend:  https://www.instagram.com/astar4real/  https://www.instagram.com/aletheacrimmins/  Brene Brown on how “fitting in” is the opposite of belonging: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2ClCPF9w7yc  Also check out the wonderful work by Julie Oyemaja and the Interprofessional Primary Care Institute: https://www.linkedin.com/company/interprofessional-primary-care-institute   We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.

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